


Due Scientific Process

by Leonawriter



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Post-Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:22:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25620538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leonawriter/pseuds/Leonawriter
Summary: Vexen makes a call at Yen Sid's tower, with a lot of questions. Science is about facts rather than feelings after all, and if the man knew anything about what he'd seen, then he needed to know.Which in turn, causes Yen Sid himself to begin questioning a great many things he thought he knew.
Kudos: 13





	Due Scientific Process

Getting up the tower had been less of a hassle than he had anticipated, which made things a lot easier. This was - or should be - the best place to find the research he had been requiring access to, after all.

The fact that the occupant seemed to be busy elsewhere, or doing something else for the moment was actually more of a frustration than not.

Ah, a "frustration." As if someone like Vexen could currently be truly "frustrated" about _anything._

But he certainly _remembered_ what it was like to have, as Even, been frustrated. And rifling through the many books he had seen on the shelves and seeing nothing that explained anything or spoke in anything other than riddles - nothing that went anywhere near _scientific_ language, or seemed to know what science was, for that matter - would have frustrated him a great deal, if he had still _been_ Even.

So he huffed, and mimicked his former self's mannerisms to the best of his ability, to the point of muttering under his breath.

A door closed behind him.

He feels none of the anxiety or fear of discovery that he might have once felt. There's an odd sort of muscle memory regarding the Organisation's rules of not being seen, but Vexen is every inch the scientist that Even was, if not more so. He became Vexen because of his own meddling in the affairs of the heart and its darkness. He isn't going to stop _now_ \- especially when his current question has so much to do with that selfsame research.

"Who are you?" The voice was authoritative and angry. It likely would have scared most, and perhaps he would have put some effort into a reaction at any other time, but he was a little too busy for such frivolities. "And why are you here?"

"It took you long enough to get back," he says. "I followed the train heading away from Twilight Town because I was curious as to where it led. I hardly expected a place such as this, however it has become useful - I have questions, and you should have answers. Therefore, we benefit each other."

"What sort of... _questions_... might those be?"

The man's piercing eyes narrowed at him, but all he needed was his answer, and he'd be out of here, through a dark corridor and several stop-overs if need be.

"Can someone without a heart wield a keyblade?"

The shock on the old master's face when he said that was certainly worthy of note - if he had been more emotional as a true human being, then he might have appreciated it for other reasons. But he had not ever been as immature as the ones who had been children when they had lost their hearts, nor Braig - that is, Xigbar - either.

"A keyblade's strength comes from the heart of the one who wields it. If they have no heart, then a keyblade _cannot_ exist. If that is all, then you may _leave."_

"I beg your pardon?!" He ran the conversation through his head. "I hope that you didn't interpret that as a request. And in fact, I simply have more questions now-"

"You came into my home unwelcome and without invitation and helped yourself to my personal possessions. The next time I ask will not be a request."

"You have no reason to be rude! I am merely a scientist conducting research on a fascinating line of enquiry, and one that I feel is extremely important. I certainly don't understand why you wouldn't be interested as well in such a thing, given the specific line of enquiry-"

"You ask if someone without a heart can wield a keyblade? I do not personally think that anyone without a heart can truly exist in order to do so. Even your indignation is ringing false. If you expect me to believe that you could possibly mean well by researching into such things, then you are sorely mistaken."

"Science," Vexen said haughtily, "does not require a heart. One does not require a heart in order to perform research or experiments." He hesitated. "However, my memories, which are one of the things that make me capable of being more than a Dusk, are telling me that I need a second opinion. Experiments in thought and process are useless if you haven't the knowledge or experience with which to back them up, or to interpret the results with. Thus I come to my second question, which is effectively originating from the first. If a person with no heart cannot _start_ to wield a keyblade, what if they already had access to one _before_ they lost their heart? Would they still be able to use it afterwards, or would the ability disappear along with their heart? You seem to be of the opinion that it would no longer be present. Is that true?"

The master's eyes narrowed even further.

"That should stand to reason... however, it would be a truly unprecedented thing, for a keyblade wielder to lose their heart in such a way, and we do not have any records to tell us what exactly would happen-"

"I see," Vexen said, not caring that he was interrupting. "Unprecedented, is it...?"

In truth, it wasn't as though there had _been_ that many heartless in the worlds before their experiments in Radiant Garden. In a way it was as though they had torn a scar in reality, in between the light and the darkness, and they had wound up in the middle of it all, in the shadows and nothingness. 

They should probably feel guilt over that, but that was the thing. They didn't _feel_ anything at all.

And yet-

"If you would explain yourself?"

He straightened up, realising that he had begun to wear a tread in the carpet under his feet. Muscle memory had him pacing when he came to a fresh discovery that required much thought.

"In the Organisation, the Superior is first among us," he said, simply. "However, when we watch over the worlds, at times there are heartless that appear that are... beyond the capabilities of many of our current members." It wasn't necessary to say _why_ they were watching the worlds, or what their aim was, that they wanted to create Kingdom Hearts with the power of all of the hearts they released, in order to regain their own. In many ways, it was beside the point. "On a recent excursion," which he was not going to go into any detail on _either_ , given how much it had to do with how as Nobodies they might be hardier than they had been as humans, but they weren't _indestructible,_ and that this particular event had to do with how unsuited _he_ was to battle... "I was privy to seeing the very thing that you are saying should have been impossible."

"But that-"

"Opens up an entirely new line of questions and reasoning, does it not?"

"...and why should I trust what you are saying? That you have seen what you say you have at all?"

"I am a _scientist._ I was before and I still am. If I ever regain my heart, then I assure you that I will _still_ be a scientist. As I came to you only out of pure scientific curiosity, I quite literally have no reason to lie to you."

"Then you are sure you could not have been mistaken?"

"My memory isn't that bad, I'll have you know! I rather think that I would recognise the shape of a keyblade, after having seen one at least twice before this."

Which, he had to admit, was odd. He _clearly_ remembered the first - the blond boy with the backwards grip, who had protected Ienzo - but the latter... he remembered the shape of it more or less, but nothing more solid than that it had come at him, and that his last emotion had been fear - fear, not for himself, but Ienzo.

Little good _that_ had done, when they had woken up as Vexen and Zexion.

But the fact remained - two, or three, keyblades. He knew the shape. He was sure.

"If what you say is true, then I will need to know everything I can about this wielder of the keyblade who has lost their heart, of their keyblade... this has grave implications that one such as yourself, without a heart, cannot hope to imagine."

Vexen merely rolled his eyes.

"If you wish to insult me, then you can do so after I have _left_."

Which need not be just yet. He still had some time before he would be missed back at the Castle That Never Was. He had come out with the not entirely wrong excuse of needing to train himself, which he could still find time for after this conversation. 

It wasn't as if he was incapable of seeing the implications of the conclusions he had come to, or the threads of reasoning that he had begun to unravel. 

He simply hadn't the heart to feel anything about it at all, other than his own natural scientific curiosity.

**Author's Note:**

> To be honest this was majorly inspired by having seen something that said how Xemnas *could* have done keyblade duty for Kingdom Hearts instead of making everyone wait until Roxas showed up, but he couldn't be bothered or didn't want to for whatever reason. Plus, a friend's fic where that same thing is pointed out - that Xemnas never went on missions himself.
> 
> And then I wondered what would happen if he *had*...
> 
> I would like to say that given I've set this within the first few months to only a year at most after BBS, Vexen and the others wouldn't have regrown their hearts as much as they had by the point of Days. There might be more than Vexen realises (given his connections to Ienzo/Zexion and the others) but it's still just a lot of "well, I think I should be reacting like this..." - just to, you know, clarify that matter.
> 
> (I'm not really planning on continuing this; it's just meant as a teaser/intro, and the idea of building from it would be really complicated, what with KH being KH. That said, if you wanna have a go, just mark it as "inspired by" and all.)
> 
> ...and now I'm feeling that we've got Luxu somewhere in the distance going "Oh shit. I'm getting the feeling things are being derailed."


End file.
